by Jayne Blue
Raleigh Gibson was just gaining equilibrium. The key to her slow progress was a quiet balance. Not taking risks. Slow, steady, deliberate progress had been made since her life crashed down around her.
She could not drive, she could not work outside her house, and she didn’t want to be in a vulnerable position if it happened again.
Thanks to Andrew, she at least had a warning if it happened or was about to, in her house. She could lie down or get out of the shower. Andrew gave her an instant to prepare for the worst. Sometimes she woke up where she had lain down, other times it was in the hospital. Always it was with a raw tongue, a pounding headache, and terror.
She fingered the links on her medic alert bracelet then she put her hands on her array of computer keyboards and powered up. It was time to get hacking.
Her job as a freelance hacker allowed her to work from home. She tested computer weaknesses for a living. Facebook, the local bank, the school online grade card system, you name it, she could break in. Grand City’s largest computer security firm hired her to hack into their client’s systems, find the weakness and report back.
Wistfully she recalled the few months that she had worked in the offices in downtown Grand City. It was exciting and vibrant. But not anymore. She could not risk it.
Now she stayed close to home just in case. It helped her keep everything on an even keel. She meticulously kept logs that Dr. Hardy asked for of every minute of her day, she recorded her sleep, her Lean Cuisine’s, the amount of water she drank, and the amount of time at her computer monitor with no breaks.
Her day was programmed to the minute because it was the only defense against the chaos that threatened to take her down. It was also a way to see if anything precipitated her incidents.
What entry did she write for today? Ripped muscle, big bicep, French neighbor interaction, two-minutes? Heart rate? Off the charts? Sweat. Yes? No way to log Mace. Maybe she would write “French Lesson” for the next time Dr. Hardy wanted an account of her activities. His strong jaw and sandy hair would not be making an appearance in her logs. Nope. Too hot for her little lists.
Damn her new neighbor. He was upsetting the balance.
At 23, Raleigh had had a few high school and college long-term boyfriends and even a smattering of hot-for-a-night hook-ups in college.
She felt like that was a thing of her old life. Hooking up with a man now seemed like a huge risk. What if it happened at some random guy’s house? She would be vulnerable at the worst or at the very least embarrassed as hell.
Even so, the image of her new neighbor kept invading her imagination. Instead of code on her monitors, she was seeing Mace Alois towering over her. He looked like he could throw her over his muscular shoulders if there was an emergency. She liked that about him.
How in the world had her brain allowed her to visualize that scenario?
Lack of sex was apparently her security weakness.
Time to analyze the threat Mace Alois posed to her carefully achieved balance. Let’s hack this sexy neighbor scenario like it’s a job.
Raleigh ran through the limited information she had about the man. He was in some sort of job, MMA had Mrs. Strong said? Anyway, it required travel, and the fact that he had a job went in the good column of the list her mind was making.
He was all muscle from floppy-haired top to bottom. Though most women would put that in the good column, she was not so sure. His looks could be very dangerous for her self-control. Most of her boyfriends were less muscular than she was, she had thought tall and skinny was her type. She had just learned, thanks to Mace Alois, that hard as a rock was her type.
So, she reasoned, she had become more self-aware in the last three minutes, probably good to know.
The man had left Estelle for three weeks, possibly more. That was a definite mark in the bad column. Though seeing Mr. Uber Muscle cuddle Estelle did things to her insides that might require attention later. It was insanely sexy watching him nuzzle in with Estelle.
Raleigh put a stop to her mental coding of Mace Alois. It was a fantasy run wild. Logically this made sense, she’d only had a few dogs, millions of lines of code, and not much else for company in the last year.
Her girlfriends tried to include her. She loved Alysha and Courtney for that. But she did not want to be out, be seen, and god forbid have it happen at some hipster bar.
She shuddered and tried to wipe the memory away. She worried that thinking about the incident itself was a trigger.
She also tried to brush aside the very recent sensation provided by Mace Alois. When he touched her just now, all the fine hairs on her body stood up like she’d been zapped by electricity. This went into the bad column.
When your body ignored the facts and responded to the touch of a foreign-dog-abandoning-muscle-head, it could not be good. Though, for some reason, the jolt of heat courtesy of Mr. Mace Alois kept wanting to put itself in the very good thing column.
Raleigh looked at the calendar on the kitchen wall. Every day was marked up with her log. It was full of stuff, activities filled the hours and the days, but activities weren’t life. She didn’t have much of one lately.
She had to have each moment all planned out. Quiet, methodical, and within walking distance was all the life she could manage.
It had been almost a year since she had graduated college and her life took a turn that defined the days to follow.
She had a degree from Grand Valley State University, a great job lined-up with a major company, and then happened.
Her parents were ready to move to Florida and they postponed their lives to take care of her. In the last few weeks, she’d spent most her time on the phone with her parents and her doctor that she could manage on her own. The key to that was calm, quiet, and careful.
She had been, for almost a year. She had arranged a walking distance life. She wanted to be independent and didn’t want to be a problem. But it still wasn’t living, this cautious road she walked.
She rubbed the fatty spot behind Andrew’s ears. He loved that. That was the one good development this year. Andrew, her seizure assistance dog.
He was why she could live alone. Her life was small and she knew it. To her parents and her friends she said all was well. Everyone go on with your lives, nothing to see here, Raleigh thought. It was dawning on her how much her seizures had taken away from her.
Her boyfriend at the time of the incident was ashamed of what she had done and in the end declared he was not going to spend his life “taking care of her.” Good riddance to that guy.
She was going to prove to everyone that she did not need to be taken care of her, her parents did not need to take care of her, neither did Alysha or Courtney. She could do it.
She might not be allowed to drive, but she could survive. She was surviving. Thriving? Well, that was a different criterion.
It had been a year of ups and downs, but she was doing it on her own now.
Her freelance security hacking was paying the bills, and she wasn’t rich, but it was enough.
Enough until just a few minutes ago, she realized, as thoughts of the sex god next door floated through her mind.
She had not even thought about what she was missing in the romance department. Until ten minutes ago. Until Mace, Alois moved in.
Raleigh looked around her apartment with a critical eye.
He did owe her a little something for watching his dog. She decided he would pay it by helping her paint the walls in her family room area.
Yep. She needed some time with her new neighbor to see if the sparks she just felt were a fluke or a sign that it was time to move one more step forward.
Raleigh’s log did need an entry that would burn up the pages dammit.
She was so tired of being safe. Of trying to avoid a seizure. If having no seizures also meant having no life what was the point?
Chapter Three
Mace
Great Wolves Gym was too high profile, but he needed a place to work out. Ze
ke Powell’s gym was home to a lot of up and coming names. It had been featured on television even.
But maybe that was a good thing. Agents and scouts could focus on the burgeoning careers of people like Craddock Flynn and Jessie Hoolihan while he stayed at least somewhat connected the sport he loved and kept in shape for his security jobs. Craddock Flynn deflected attention from him Mace reasoned.
He had to be careful, though. Whitey Hoolihan, the old trainer, had asked him to do some sparring with a new crop of light heavyweights that day. Mace had a strong punch, he knew he could take any of these guys out with it, but it was the ground game that Whitey wanted the guys to learn.
“No one rides like you Mace,” Whitey said to him as he blew the whistle to end the session. Jessie, his grandson, and insanely strong middleweight wrestler piped in behind him.
“That’s what she said,” Jessie added. Both Mace and Whitey were confused by the reference.
“That’s what he said.” Mace pointed to Whitey.
“No, that’s the joke from that television show? The Office?” Whitey smacked Jessie on the back of the head.
“Stop being funny.” Whitey said and Jessie shook his head and walked over to the free weights.
“I am confused by the pronouns,” Mace explained to Whitey.
“I’m confused by anyone under fifty. Don’t worry about it.”
Mace felt fluent in English but sometimes got tripped up and no more so than when someone quoted an American television show. Growing up in France his parents did not even have a television. They had the restaurant and he worked there or worked out all the time.
“Hey before you take off, I wanted to let you know, the Great Wolves MC, guys that own this joint, want to sponsor someone to make a run this year for the 21C professional league. I was thinking of you. Sparring with these guys is one thing, but I’m watching you and know you got a lot more in the tank.”
“Not interested in pro anymore, but thank you.”
“You’re what? Only 26 or 27? You’ve got a few good years ahead?”
“Merci yes, 27. But no. I’m happy sparring and whatever you need but no fights for me.”
“Damn shame,” White said and shook his head as he walked away from Mace.
Mace headed to the showers and tried to convince himself he was safe here. This was just a question from Whitey. No one here knew who was looking for him. He hoped. Grand City was about as far away from Europe as you could get. He knew the men who chased him had a long reach.
His days at the GWG could be limited if they found him here. It was why he fled New York. Things were too hot there. Then Detroit. Finally here.
Maybe he had been here too long already. He did not want to run again though he knew he might always be running. He carried the past like a weight he could not put down.
It seemed a particularly heavyweight as he returned to his apartment until he saw her.
He walked to the door of his place and there she was again. Raleigh “like the city” - his luscious neighbor.
He had seen glimpses of her in the mornings the last few days, running out in short shorts to walk her big yellow dog, Andrew, she called him.
Her blond hair caught the light and her legs, well, they drove him a little crazy. He tried to avoid seeing her. It was much easier that way.
Raleigh noticed him noticing her and took a few long strides in his direction essentially cutting him off from his front door.
“So when’s a good time?” She asked, no hello, no how are you today. She just dove right into the question.
“Good afternoon would be the courteous way to great a neighbor in my country.” The American way of getting right to the point was a cute trait on her, but he supposed just about everything was cute on Raleigh Gibson.
“Bonjour, right?”
“Oui.”
“Bonjour, when’s a good time for you to paint my living room?” She looked him right in the eyes and there was a little challenge on her lips. He wanted to kiss that smirk right off her mouth. This one was almost impossible to resist and with no sense of what he was really getting into with her, he had promised to help her around her apartment. Mace was not sure that was the best idea all of a sudden.
“It’s Friday night. I have a job to go to tonight. I am off on Saturday though, totally free. Does that work with you?” He asked her.
“Perfect. I have plans tonight too. I will see you early Saturday. Au revoir.” Then she turned around to offer another lovely view of her backside. Mace stood in place for a second to enjoy it.
She turned back unexpectedly and caught him staring.
“And you were lecturing me about manners? Is it courteous to stare at a woman’s ass?”
“It is in France.” Raleigh Gibson appeared to want to play with him. He had decided to see if she was all talk.
“Oh, really, I always thought that was more Italy.” She continued to her place and shut the door.
He found himself wondering about how she looked without those short shorts on. How she looked all the time. It was a line of thinking that could lead to big trouble.
Raleigh
Alysha and Courtney were her best friends since forever. They had gone to high school and college together and now they were all starting careers in Grand City. Alysha was teaching and Courtney was an associate producer at WLUV, the local news station.
She was envious of both of them sometimes. They were out, doing the things they dreamed. They were not housebound, as Raleigh had to be.
The envy did not last long. Especially when they continued to try to make sure she was okay. The incident had not changed their bond. It was stronger if anything.
Except they spent less time together. They rarely went out thanks to Courtney’s schedule; she worked nights at the station, so it was a treat to have all three of them available for a girl’s night in.
She had thought that meant movies at her apartment. Even though she knew, they were getting tired of staying in with her.
They showed up Friday night, each looking gorgeous in her own way, and they announced she was going out with them.
“You have been fine. You said so yourself. You have your medicine and you have a killer dress that’s been collecting dust.” Courtney was not taking no for an answer.
“I am fine. But am I bar fine? That’s a totally different kind of fine.”
“Superfine,” Alysha chimed in.
Raleigh did not use to be the shy type and she had fun dressing up or used to. It had been a long time. She remembered her boring log of the day, she’d walked Andrew, worked for clients, and then shocked herself by making painting date with Mace.
Maybe she was getting braver. She would roll with it! She decided to take a leap of faith do a night out instead of in. Alysha and Courtney would have her back if anything happened.
She chose her favorite little black dress and short jean jacket over the top.
“Please, can we do that long pendant you have,” Alysha was the fashion advisor of the group.
Raleigh put a long pendant on and her silver hoops.
“Happy now? But no spinning, let’s not press our luck,” Raleigh said.
“You look sensational!” Alysha said. Her tiny friend was half-Filipino and all gorgeous. If she had not been so short, she could have been a model. Instead, she taught special education at an inner-city elementary school.
“Back at you.” Alysha had a little red dress on accented with gold jewelry and her petite frame put Kelly Ripa to shame.
“Your legs couldn’t be more toned,” Courtney complimented her. Courtney was their model tall friend. Courtney played college volleyball and if it was on a high shelf, their stunning redheaded Amazon would get it. Raleigh envied the strength and power that radiated from every gorgeous inch of Courtney.
They were both trying to bolster Raleigh’s confidence and it was so sweet she could cry.
“I owe my gams, as Grandma Gibson used to say, to the dog. I walk about fou
r or five miles a day.”
“That’ll do it. Courtney where we headed?” Alysha asked.
It was Courtney’s turn to be the designated driver and as such, she got to pick the place.
“Well seeing as I can’t partake I decided we’d go somewhere where we can have some excitement and see some gorgeous man flesh.”
“Oh God. What? I’m not going to a male strip show.” Alysha was the most conservative of the three of them and blushed at the talk of eye candy or men or just about anything.
“Relax. We’re headed to the Big Old Building Bar.”
“It’s a meat market. What if someone from school sees me?” Alysha was always worried about that these days.
“Relax. They don’t let elementary school kids in unless they have a really good fake id.” Raleigh assured her friend. They laughed together and it was good to be with the girls Raleigh thought. She had been so focused on work, and that damn balance, that she had forgotten fun.
The three friends staked a claim at a bar top table once they arrived and Raleigh described Mace to her girlfriends. She had contributed so little to their once vibrant discussion of men she felt she owed them some full disclosure.
“Sounds like a meat head.” Said Alysha, who was looking for a man with ambition and earning potential to go with her steady as a rock personality. Very logical plans were Alysha’s forte.
“Sounds like you should fuck his brains out.” Courtney’s logic was of a different flavor.
“I can’t say I haven’t visualized that.” The three laughed they had one drink each, white wine for Raleigh, which packed a punch since drinking was such a rarity for her these days, and a Cosmo for Alysha. When the server brought Courtney the water she had ordered, he whispered something in her ear.
“That’s exactly what I’d been hoping would happen,” she told them after the server left.
“What,” Alysha asked.
“Well, ladies finish your drinks. It’s time to motivate.” Alysha was putting money on the table and chugged her cocktail.